Edinburgh pledges further funding for net zero work

Elected members around the City of Edinburgh Council have agreed options for investing £21 million in one-off additional funding.

In February, the town of Edinburgh Council set a balanced budget for 2021/22, shaped through the key priorities from the Council Business Plan – tackling poverty, promoting sustainability and enhancing residents’ well-being.

Following confirmation through the Scottish Government of additional funding for local authorities and, council officers identified as much as £21 million that could be produced open to address budget pressures, anticipated shortfalls in savings delivery along with other member priorities in 2021/22 and 2022/23.

Amongst the investment, the council will provide an additional £2 million extra in repairs towards the roads and pavements network including local residential areas and an extra £4 million to enhance surface condition for all users. The councils will even invest £300,000 to enhance both street cleansing operations and winter gritting making our streets cleaner and safer.

Agreed investment options also include £1.1 million in this programme to enhance organisation and capacity in communal bins over the city, a further £500,000 to improve council estate carbon performance, £250,000 to grow EV charging infrastructure for that council's own fleet and £700,000 to consider forward citizen communication and engagement to create behaviour change assisting the city in reaching carbon net zero target.

Rob Munn, Finance and Resources Convener, said: “When our Council budget was agreed in February, the ultimate municipality settlement wasn't known entirely. At the time we set a prudent Budget in the knowledge that we would have other decisions to make following clarification from the final settlement. That final settlement was more than we'd anticipated and I'm very pleased that we've been able to agree these investments in council today, helping us to satisfy our commitments and to ensure that we address poverty, well-being and the climate challenge.”